Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds:

I hope to create a welcoming classroom environment which is representative of diverse cultures and makes my students feel safe, welcome and comfortable.

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice:

It should be the goal of the early child field to be more equitable by offering the experience of early childhood education to ALL children ages 3 to 5.

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues:

Thank you to my classmates for opening my eyes to diverse experiences, view points, and opinions.  I have learned more about how different, yet similar we all truly are.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

• The name of “your” family’s country of origin:

Portugal is on the western edge of Europe.  It is a developed country and is a country of very little diversity.  Its residents are over 90% Portuguese.  The dominant language in Portugal is Portuguese.  The predominant religion is Catholicism.  The school systems in Portugal are very successful with a 99% literacy rate.

• At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family:
1. Look up the location of this country on the map
2. Research on the internet some cultural norms of this country
3. Include representation of this country in my posters and bulletin boards
4. Set out and prepare lessons around children’s books that include people and/or information about this country, diversity, and acceptance of others
5. Set up a meeting with an interpreter and the family to get to know them and find out what I can do to make them feel welcome and to help ensure their child’s success.
• A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family

These preparations will help me to be better prepared for this student and family.  It will also help to expand my knowledge and cultural awareness by learning about a place I previously had very little knowledge of.  It will help the family to feel more accepted and comfortable in their new country and new school setting.  I would be hopeful that I could provide a positive first experience with school that will continue throughout resulting in a successful school experience. 

The personal side of bias, predjudice, and oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression?

In high school and the few years following I was close friends with two African American men.  We would often be in the car together, just the three of us, driving around town.  There were multiple times when we were pulled over by police officers for no apparent reason.  There were no warnings, or citations given.  However, my two friends were always asked to step out of the car and searched, while I was allowed to stay in. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

I believed this to be both racial and gender profiling; possibly agism as well.  I think that we were pulled over simply because we were young and there were two black men in the car.  They were obviously discriminated against because they were searched and I was not.

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

Initially I felt very angry that this type of racism was occurring in an area which I lived and loved so much.  However because there was never any citations that they could find to give us, we would often laugh it off.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

I believe multiple changes would have to occur.  Obviously racial profiling is a problem in our police force and government that needs continual monitoring and improvement.  Even if crime is higher among African American men than some other races, it is unfair and unjust to classify all African Americans as criminals, which is what occurs when police officers to assume someone is doing something wrong simply because they are black.